Chart of the Day: Workers of Wash. most common jobs don’t earn enough

People working some of Washington state’s most common occupations do not earn enough income to provide for basic needs of a family, according to a new report from the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County.

The report calculates income adequacy based on the Self-Sufficiency Standard — a model developed in 1996 by Diana Pearce, director of the Center for Women’s Welfare at the University of Washington’s School of Social Work.

Pearce developed the SSS as an alternative to the Federal Poverty Level, the official measurement used by the federal government to determine poverty status, which she believes is outdated and grossly underestimates the true cost of basic needs, including things such as child care and housing, and fails to take into account how these things vary with geographical location.

One-third of workforce boards in the country have adopted the Self-Sufficiency Standard as the preferred barometer for economic well being.

According to the report authored by Pearce, the cost of living has increased significantly throughout the state since the SSS was first calculated in 2001. The SSS was calculated three times: 2001, 2006 and 2009. In that time, the standard for a family of one adult, one preschooler and one school-age child jumped 38 percent in the Tacoma area, 35 percent in Seattle, 25 percent in Clark County and 14 percent in Kennewick-Richland.

This increase, the report says, reflects an average 57 percent increase in health care costs across Washington’s counties, an increase of between 10 and 40 percent in the cost of housing, a 30-45 percent increase in child care costs and a jump in the cost of food (65 percent in King County).

However, wages have stagnated, Pearce says.

“The minimum wage in Washington ($8.55 an hour) is the highest in the nation but it only covers about 40 percent of what a family of an adult with a preschooler and a second child in elementary school needs.”

The report states that in King County, the self-sufficiency wage for a single adult is $8.91/hour. However, add a preschooler and one school-age child, and the adult needs to earn at least $23.76/hour, almost triple minimum wage.

Of Washington’s 10 largest occupations in 2009 in terms of the number of people employed, only one group had an annual median income that met or exceeded the self-sufficiency standard. Those 10 occupations are represented by 557,270 Washington employees. 49,910 of them meet/exceed the self-sufficiency standard.

Wages of Washington’s 10 largest occupations, 2009

*Based on SSS for one adult, one preschooler and one school-age child in King County (City of Seattle).
**Wages were adjusted for inflation using January 2009 Consumer Price Index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
***Maids and housekeeping cleaners are not included in janitor/cleaner category.

Self-sufficiency wages in all 39 counties are charted in the report. East King County has the highest self-sufficiency standard in the state — $57,766 — while Wahkiakum County has the lowest standard at $29,324.